Laying the Foundation: Committed to God's Mission

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

Sunday, September 21, 2008

This morning, we lay another important brick in our biblical foundation upon which we will build and we will implement the plans that we believe God has led this congregation to lay down. This morning’s foundational brick is that of commitment, commitment to God’s mission.

Now whenever I think about commitment, at least this time of year, I can’t help but think about Cub fans. They’re the epitome of commitment, are they not? Think about it. They’re the most dedicated, the most passionate, the most committed fans on the planet. They haven’t won the World Series in 100 years. Does that dampen their spirits? No, not one little bit. Every September, it seems, things kind of fall apart. Does that dampen their spirits? No, it doesn’t dampen their spirits. On Friday, they got pummeled by St. Louis. Does that dampen their spirits? No because, as was pointed out to me last night right after the service, “But do you know, we won today and cinched the division.” You see, nothing dampens their spirit. And if they don’t win the series this year, no problem. You know what the Cub fan will say, right? “There’s always next year.” It’s the epitome of commitment. Dedication, passion.

Imagine with me if all of Christianity could be that committed, could be that dedicated, could have that much passion for God’s mission. God’s mission is that all people would be saved. It is God’s mission that everyone would call upon His Son, Jesus, and that through faith in Him, they spend an eternity in paradise. It’s God’s mission to call all people back to Himself.

Now imagine what it would be like if all Christianity could recapture that kind of commitment, the passion, the dedication to God’s mission. We’ve seen it once before. We saw it in the early church. The early disciples had that kind of commitment, that kind of dedication, that kind of passion for God’s mission. I mean, after all, they started out with just a handful. There were just a couple of hundred of them when Jesus went off into heaven and the centuries that have passed since then, millions upon millions of people today call upon Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They had that commitment to God’s mission. They had a passion and dedication about them and they changed all of history. They changed the world.

Imagine if we had that commitment once again. You see, my friends, it’s true that millions of people call upon Jesus as their Savior but billions of people do not. The amount of people who do not know Jesus as their Savior outnumber us by a goodly margin or consider the fact that every minute 83 people die not knowing Jesus as their Savior. Every minute of every day of every week. How many passed away without knowing Jesus just since our service began?

Consider the fact that half of the population in our county claims no affiliation to a church and, of that half that claims some sort of affiliation to a church, not even close to half of them would be in one of God’s houses of worship where they could be fed by Word and sacrament. If there was ever a need to recapture that commitment and passion and dedication to God’s mission, it’s now.

Just imagine with me what would happen in our nation if all Christians had that commitment to His mission. Imagine with me what would have happened in our community and in our neighborhood if we could recapture that commitment to God’s mission. Well, fellow Christians, it’s time to stop imagining and it’s time to start doing. It’s time for us to recapture that kind of commitment. If we could have that kind of dedication and that kind of passion for a sports team, I think we can have it for Jesus. And I think we can have it for God’s mission, God’s mission of reaching out to people and bringing them back to Himself and, to be candid, if we even stand a chance of implementing the plans that we have laid out for our congregation, we must be committed to God’s mission. And committed to God’s mission takes over our whole being.

It begins with our heart as we know the heart of God. And then it goes to our head as we know the mind of God and it gets translated to our hand as we become the hands and the feet of God. We must know the heart of God. The heart of God is easy to know. It’s written all over the scriptures. We see it time and time again. We see the heart of God as He deals with His people, the heart of God as He wants to rescue His people. You see the heart of God with the people of Israel that we’ve been tracing through since last week. You see, it was the heart of God that saved Israel.

Last week, we began in the book of Joshua and the people were crossing the Jordan River coming into the Promise Land. Now this week, they’re going off to Jericho to start the conquest of that land. Did it ever occur to you why did it take 40 years from the time they left Egypt to the time they came into the Promise Land? Did you ever ask the question, “Why did they wander around in the desert for 40 years?” Now some have speculated they wandered around the desert for 40 years because Moses refused to ask for directions. Now that’s not true. Well, I don’t know, it might be true but that’s not the reason why they wandered around the desert for 40 years. They wandered around the desert for 40 years because they rebelled against God. They rebelled against God and refused to trust Him. You see, 40 years earlier, they were on the cusp of going into the Promise Land, just like they are in the book of Joshua, ready to go in. They send out spies into the Promise Land to check it out. The spies come back and they say, “Ooh, they’ve got some big boys over there. They have some mean-looking dudes, Philistines and all that over there. I don’t think we can take them. It doesn’t look good.” And so all the people got scared. And all the people said we can’t go in there and they turned on God and they rebelled against God. Now this is hard for me to understand but I wasn’t there. Now these are the people who watched God separate the Red Sea and they trotted across on dry ground. These are the people that every morning when they woke up, manna was on the ground for them to eat and every evening when they came home, there was quail meat waiting for them to cook up for supper which means they saw real tangible miracles every single day. There was the manna. There was the quail. And yet, they don’t think God can take them into the Promise Land? They rebel against God. They’re getting ready to stone Moses and Aaron and God says, “I’m going to wipe them out.” Read about it. Look at Numbers. God says, “That’s it. I’m going to start over. I’m going to wipe the whole lot of them out because I’ve had enough.” And He would have every right to do so as a just and righteous God, He would have every right to wipe them out.

But Moses calls upon the heart of God. Moses calls upon the heart of God for the people. It’s recorded in Numbers 14. Moses says to God, “In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of the people. Just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now, God, this isn’t the first time. Ever since we left Egypt, you’ve had to forgive your people again and again and again so as you have in the past,” he appeals to the heart of God, “forgive them now.” The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them just as you asked. I have forgiven them.” You see, the heart of God wants to forgive His people. The heart of God wanted to gather His people back to Himself. Now He’s still a just and righteous God. He said, “You’re going to wander around in the desert for 40 years. It’s the next generation that will get into the Promise Land.” But God says, “I forgive you.” That’s the heart of God. It’s the heart of God that saved the people of Israel. It’s the heart of God that saved you. It’s the heart of God that saved me.

How many times have you rebelled against God? How many times have you done the very thing that God has told you not to do? Scripture says we are born in sin, that we are born rebellious to God. You don’t want to go all the way back to your birth? Okay, that’s fine. How about this morning? Yesterday? Last week? Last month? Let’s just take one of God’s Top 10, okay? God says, “Thou shalt not kill.” No problem with that one. Alright. I got one of the ten. I’ve never murdered anybody. I’m all set. Except Jesus said, “Anyone who has hatred in their heart has murdered them in his heart.” Uh-oh. Who here has never felt hatred? Have you hated your ex-wife or your ex-husband? Have you hated your boss? Have you hated that kid in chemistry class? The bully on the playground? That’s only one. I have nine to go. I don’t know about you, I’m already convicted. I don’t need to go on to the other nine.

You see, we deserve nothing from God. All we deserve from God is His wrath, His anger and His punishment. If not for the heart of God. As Moses pleaded for the people, so Jesus pleads for you. Scripture tells us that while we were still yet sinners, Christ Jesus died for us. While we were in the midst of hating somebody else, Christ Jesus died for us. While we were in the midst of rebelling against God, doing the very things He asked us not to do, Christ Jesus died for us. Jesus, the Son of God, lived among us and, although He was perfect, He took upon your sins and mine and He paid the punishment. He paid the penalty for that so you could be declared forgiven, so you could be brought back into the fold of the Father and spend an eternity with Him. That’s the heart of God. The heart of God wants to reach out and He wants to bring you to Himself and to keep you there for all time. The heart of God wants all people to be saved, all people. Listen to the words of Jesus. He tells us about the heart of the Father, “And this is the will of Him who sent me that I shall lose none of all that He has given me but raise them at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life.” My Father’s will is that Jesus should lose none of those that He has been given, that everyone who looks to the Son and believes shall have eternal life. It is the heart of God that all people would be saved so when the Father sees that billions upon billions of people are living in rebellion to Him, billions of people are outside of His grace, billions of people that do not know His Son as their Savior, His heart aches. His heart aches because the heart of God wants all people to come to Him.

My friends, we have to have the heart of God. If He has called us to faith, if He has captured our heart, we need to have the heart of God also. It means that we see people differently. It means when we see people living outside of God’s grace, our heart aches. Our ministry means nothing if we don’t have the heart of God. The plans that we have laid for the future mean nothing if we don’t have the heart of God. God wants all people to be brought to Him.

And once God has captured your heart, He messes with your mind because now He gives you the mind of God. What I mean by that is the attitude of God because God’s attitude, His mind set, is different than what comes normally or naturally to us. We get an inclination of the attitude or the mind of Jesus when Jesus says this, “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me.” Jesus didn’t come into our world to do what He wanted to do. He came into this world to do what the Father has asked Him to do.

St. Paul picked up on that when he wrote to the Church in Philippi and he says, “You see Jesus’ attitude? You need to have that same attitude.” Chapter 2 says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus who being the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made Himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant.” The attitude of Jesus, the mind set of Jesus is that of a servant. A servant puts the needs of others above Himself. Jesus has this “whatever it takes” kind of attitude. Whatever it takes to redeem mankind, Jesus is going to do it. Whatever it takes to bring salvation to God’s creation, He’s going to do that. Does it mean leaving heaven on high? Yes. Taking on the form of a human being? Becoming one with creation? Jesus would do it. He would walk among us. He would teach us. He would try to enlighten us. How did we respond? We scoffed at Him. We ignored Him. We ridiculed Him and yet He stays obedient to the Father’s will because He believes the Father’s will can rescue the people, will bring them back into the Father’s home. So He is obedient, scripture says, “to death.” Even death on a cross. You see, Jesus will do whatever it takes. If it means that, innocent as He is, He has spikes driven through His hands and His feet, then He’ll do it. If it means that a spear is to pierce His side, then He’ll do it. If it means that He has to go through the fires of hell, He’ll do it. If it means the salvation of mankind. You see, the bottom line is Jesus put your need for salvation above Himself and, whatever it takes, He was willing to do so you could be brought to the Father. That’s His attitude, His mind set.

Scripture says you are to have the same attitude, the same mind set as that of Jesus. It means that you and I are to have a servant attitude. We put the need of sharing the salvation with others above all other needs. It becomes priority No. 1. We put our convenience, we put our needs, we put our wants as secondary to the needs of those to hear the gospel message so they might be saved. It means that we become their servant and we have this “whatever it takes” type of attitude. You see, whatever it takes attitude says do we need to add a service on another day, then we’ll do it. Do we need to add another style of worship, then we’ll do it. If that means we will reach more people in Christ, then we’ll do it. If it means that we will launch out into new ministry areas, then we will do it. Whatever it takes to bring the news of Jesus to people, we’re willing to do it. If it means we are inconvenienced, if it means that we go to a different service time so it makes room at the most popular time, if it means that we have to drive further to church, we’ll do it if it means we can share the gospel of Jesus with someone for the first time or what seems like the first time.

And here’s the kicker, you’re going to love this. We do it with a smile on our face. We do it because we want to. Jesus did not go to the cross begrudgingly. He went there willingly because He knew what it meant.  He knew that it made the difference between heaven and hell for you and for me so He gladly, willingly went to the cross. We become the servant of others, gladly and willingly because it’s the difference between heaven and hell for the guy who lives across the street, the gal in the other cubical, the kid in my 7th period class. We gladly and willingly become the servant of others and take on God’s mind set, His attitude.

And once you have the mind of God, you become the hands of God. You become the hands and feet of God because God has always worked through His people. God works outside of His people but God always uses His people as His instrument. We’re watching the Israelites and how God is using them as His instrument. They have come into the Promise Land and now they have marched around Jericho. How did the walls of Jericho fall down? By God’s power and by God’s might but yet God gave His people the opportunity to be faithful and obedient and to march around the city. They had to feel pretty silly marching around the city but God used His people and the walls came down.

God continued to use the Israelites so He would bring forth His Son. God uses His people today. We are His hands and His feet. Jesus says, “You will be my witnesses.” Not “you might be” or “you could be.” He says “you will be.” Now what kind of witness we are, that’s up to us. But Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses.” Jesus says we are to go and make disciples of all nations. You see, we have been entrusted with the greatest news of all time, the most important message that has come to humanity is in our hands and God is relying upon us to share it with the rest of humanity. There’s no Plan B, only Plan A and we’re it, to share the love and the grace of God with all people. We are His hands, His feet and His mouthpiece. It means that everything we do should be a witness, how we live, how we act, how we talk. So just through our lifestyle, through our invitations, through our reaching out and compassion, through our bringing people into our fold and into our small group bible studies or into worship or to maybe Grace Place or maybe it’s Faith Alive. We are the hands and feet that are to reach out to this community and to bring them so they can hear the gospel message.

I guess we’ve come full circle because, once again, it reminds me of a Cub fan, kind of. You know who the Cub fans are, right? There’s no doubt about who they are. Sometimes you wish they’d be a little less vocal about the whole fact because they get a little bit irritating. “Yeah, we know you’re a Cub fan. Okay, okay, okay.” But could you imagine if people said that about Christians? Could you imagine if they said that about you? Because you had such a commitment in your heart, such a passion, such a dedication, can you imagine the impact that we could have on our community, the impact we could have on our neighbors, the impact upon the person across the street and across the aisle? Can you image how God would use us as His hands and feet?

Friends, it’s time to stop imagining. It’s time to start doing. Amen.

Copyright 2008 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church